August 10, 2007

Which Quran, Mecca or Medina?

The Quran as we know it today is in reality two quite different books. The older Quran was written in Mecca while the later Quran was written in Medina. This lead some scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to refer to the Quran by its two parts, the Mecca Quran and the Medina Quran. Both were transcribed as told by Muhammad to a scribe, as Muhammad was illiterate as were a majority in his day. A majority of the Surah in the Quran were written in Mecca with the rest written in Medina. The problem is that the Surah in the Quran are not placed in chronological order, but are ordered as shown here, along with the city of origin of each Surah. This will have importance later in this article. By not ordering the Surah in their chronological order one must refer to the Hadiths and other Islamic texts to discern the original order as Muhammad received his visions from Allah. This added to the secretive mystery that was spun around the Quran making its reading less straightforward to non-Muslims.

The Mecca Quran was all about tolerance, tranquility, spirituality, acceptance, and inner cleansing through submission to the word of Allah. This earlier part of the Quran also dictated many of the rules that individual Muslims must perform and abide in their day-to-day lives. In my most humble opinion the Mecca Quran formed a basis for a religion that bridged some of the gaps and controversies between the Christians and the Jews. Where Christians no longer followed much of the Rules of Kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, the Quran reinstated many of these laws. But in the Mecca Quran the idea of an eye for an eye was replaced by a more Christian philosophy. In many ways I see the Mecca Quran as an attempt at a compromise that would appeal to those Jews who found merit in the Christian teachings but refused to release from Jewish traditions while also appealing to those Christians who were not totally comfortable with having left so much of Judaism behind. Either way, Muhammad set about to preach his revelations and gain converts, mostly from among Christians and Jews. The major obstacle in Muhammad’s efforts was that times were economically very good and most people were quite content with their current way of life. When people are happy and things are going well, people are usually not open to change as change may upset the balance or whatever that gives them this comfort and wealth. With time, Muhammad became more vocal as he was probably very frustrated that so few were willing to accept his preaching of Allah. This lead to his being forcefully requested to depart Mecca. So, he and his core converts to Islam made their way to Medina.

Undaunted, upon his arrival in Medina Muhammad continued his preaching and search for converts. Initially Muhammad abided by the peaceable and tolerant words of the Mecca Quran. Early in the Medina period, the life for Muhammad and his followers was difficult as they faced a shortage of food as they had yet to become financially solvent within the society of Medina. This was resolved when Muhammad not only allowed for the raiding of the trade caravans, but blessed the actions and praised the raiders. This naturally upset many of the merchants who were dependant on these caravans for their livelihood. This combined with the rejection of the teaching proselytized by Muhammad by much of the Jewish tribes in Medina gave way to escalating violence. This conflict escalated finally leading to the attack by the forces of Muhammad upon the Banu-Nadhir Jews. During this period Muhammad started to reveal the parts of the Quran from Medina. He had originally ruled that Muslims prayed facing Jerusalem, but the opposition from the Jews had him replace Jerusalem as the center of faith to Mecca. His newer revelations were more violent and had the Jews as the primary focus of this violence. This Medina Quran also incorporated much of the moral blessings of violence and caravan raiding taken from the Arab tribes who thrived on these ventures. This lead to many of these tribes adopting this newer form of Islam as dictated by Muhammad thus supplying Muhammad with a sizeable army at his command.

These were the pressures and societal conditions that lead to the differences between the Mecca and Medina portions of the Quran. While in Mecca Muhammad enjoyed the shared wealth of his clan and his tribe. Living an easier life his writings were more inclusive and passive. After being forced from Mecca and taking up his new residence in Medina, Muhammad no longer had the clan and tribal support and was on his own. This harder reality affected his writings, which became more assertive and violent. The importance here is that Muhammad ruled that if a later Surah contradicted a previous Surah, then the most recent and newer Surah was the true word of Allah. This is why figuring out the chronological order of the Surah is so essential to understanding Islam. It is also why one must read the whole Quran and not listen and decide matters only on quotes of individual Surah. The fact that Surah exist that have opposite intent and meanings should be noted so one can discern the validity of each Surah. If one is quoting from the Mecca Quran and there is a contradicting Surah in the Medina Quran, then the quote is no longer valid. Where much of the rituals come from the Mecca Quran along with the calls for tolerance and peace, the more exclusionary and violence condoning Surah in the Medina Quran negate the peaceful intention of the Surah from the earlier Mecca writings. This is why one must be careful when accepting as fact anybody’s quoting of the Surah of the Quran.

Perhaps some day a scholar will write a version of the Quran with the Surah in chronological order with footnotes to denote which Surah have been superceded by later Surah. Until then we are left to research these discrepancies ourselves. Not an easy task, but a necessary one if we are to understand Islam and Muslims.

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You’ve stated very succinctly the difference in “mood” between the Meccan and Medina ayat. When and where discrepancies exist, the accepted practice within Islam is as you say: the more recent scriptures invalidate the older scriptures, and this is called nasikh. Hence the later, more militant Medina scriptures abrogate the older, more liberal Meccan scriptures. Nasikh is accpeted by both Sunni and Shi’a. May I also point you to http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08692a.htm for an excellent list of which sura originated from Mecca and which originated from Medina; for a superb table of the same, visit http://www.missionislam.com/quran/revealationorder.htm. Thank you for your insights and willingness in running your blog. Mashallah

Great article. Actually, Dr. Bill Warner, of the site http://www.politicalislam.com, shares this view with you about the two Korans. I think this is a difficult concept for some people to grasp so I don't refer to it this way.

However, you wanted a Koran in chronological order and that has been done. Political Islam has actually put that together with the appropriate historical information so that the story flows and is easily understood.

I am friends with the site owner, but I do not profit from recommending the book. It's just the best Koran out there and will fill in all the blanks. The bad verses are not abrogated. Period. There is no confusion when read in chronological order.

The “footnotes” and chronological order that you are looking for are found in a series called Tafseer-Al-Quran. You may also find many free downloads of explanatory texts at http://www.kalamullah.com. There is also a very nice site called onereason.org which contains a book called “The Man in the Red Underpants”. A fantastic read for those who would like to understand the purpose of life.

What is your source for these statements? Is it primary source from people living and writing at that time? I have heard told that Mohammed was assassinated on his way to Medina and someone else hijacked the group and dictated the violent Medina verses for the purpose of conquest and material gain.

It is interesting to compare Mohamed with other prophets .Is there a similarity or complete difference .Many of the prophets of Jewish history were persecuted or executed because their message was unwelcome to a people who had departed from following God .The context of the prophet , the recipients of the message .And the reason why the prophet was appointed by God .Verification ,if in deed the prophet was from God or false .There is no doubt when investigating prophets from Jewish history that the message is always clear .Not clouded .The direction of God was always clear .Even to Jonah who went the other way .And you know the story .It took a whale to turn him the right way !Then some may say what about Elijah and the prophets of baal .What was at stake ?The unmistakable evidence of God’s direction at that event .

I will take it on faith that 1.3 Billion Muslims believe he did and that is sufficient for his existence, whether real or not, to be felt very strongly on planet Earth, especially when compared to the whole almost fourteen Million practicing Jews.

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It is my belief that though 2 Korans were dictated by prophet Mohammed and written by scribes, either one or both Korans were amended, altered, changed, additional material was added not long after prophet’s death, at the time of battle between Yazid and prophets’ grand son Hussain who was killed in the battle at Karbla, the place and time of birth of Shia sect in Islam. Therefore logically, the identity of two Korans was transferred to Sunni and Shia korans respectively.

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Basically the mecca Koran describes a religion like many others, that we could live peacefully with. But the Medina Koran describes a warlike cult, where the religious, secular, and military leader are all one person, with that person advocates spreading their religion by war and violence, and persecuting non believers. This makes the Medina Koran far more like a totalitarian political ideology, like Fascism or Communism, than any religion. So the real difference with Islam being a religion of peace is are they only following half the religion (the Mecca half) or all of it (including the murderous Medina half). Because of this, Islam is one of the few religions where the more devoted you are to following all of the religion, rather than just part of it, the more violent and dangerous you become.
Also, unlike Christianity, where the more violent old testament is explicitly superseded by the more peaceful New Testamant, in the Koran the murderous violent Median portion supercedes the more peaceful Mecca portion. Because of this, I do not believe any Muslim should be allowed into Western society unless the publically renounce the Medina Koran, and swear they will only be bound by the Mecca Koran, just as a Christian Nazi would be able to keep their Christianity, but renounce their Nazism.

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I was telling an agnostic friend I had read the Koran cover to cover and was just getting to the difference of the parts written in Mecca and Medina. Just at the moment I was about to explain abrogation, we were interrupted by a woman dressed in a burka. She commandeered the conversation emphasizing that Mohammed had said “To you, yours; to mine, mine”. Long story short, I told her I would find the passage and determine what what stage Mohammed had said it and it’s meaning, IF, she would look up “Abrogation” and see what Mohammed preached thereafter. Sure enough, she was quoting from the Meccan period. With the Koran…abrogation, abrogation, abrogation. My conclusion, Islam is NOT a religion of peace. Any abrogation to refute my conclusion?

The first mosques builded to 740 had their Qibla towards Petra isnt that odd. After that it became Mecca. that suggest that Mecca did not exist before that time so how could Mohammed received the revelation while Mecca did not exist in his time? Look how the holy city is decribed… Mecca as an important trade city ? Well in no early important trade documents is mecca to find…instead we find Petra en from Petra we know it was a important city on a major arabic traderoute.
Jay Smith gives explanation in a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9lIuUjPs0

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‘Abrogated?’ Seriously? Let’s discuss how the term ‘abrogated’ is being used here. It is being used for a book that is accepted by 23% of the world as the devine law. Whoever uses this term to explain the legitimacy of verses in the Qur’aan disrespects Allah SWT, either intentionally or unintentionally, because what they show is that Allah SWT (Nauudubillah) doesn’t know what He is talking about and therefore passed down a book that is full of contradictions. Also, it is not in the hands of any human being to decide which verse contradicts which verse because it’s like deciding which personality to let overtake the other personalities in a person who has Multiple Personality Disorder, highly unethical. Henceforth, EVERY word in the Qur’aan should be considered valid whether it sounds good or bad. Every person who truly understands Islam knows that it is not in the principles of Islam to promote violence, hence the verses in the Qur’aan that appear violent obviously don’t mean what is apparent to the naked eye of a large percent of human beings and should be ignored by the people who wrongfully interpret them because as far as I know there are a lot of people who see those verses as violent, therefore my advise to those people is to seek aid of the Hadith of Sahih Al-Bukhari, the most authentic Hadith, to clarify those verses for them and if they still don’t understand them, just ignore them because ignoring a verse is better than wrongfully interpreting it. Also, here is a verse from the Qur’aan verifying my point. “He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: in it are verses basic or fundamental clear (in meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are not entirely clear. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is not entirely clear. Seeking discord, and searching for its interpretation, but no one knows its true meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in it, the whole of it is from our Lord:” and none will grasp the meaning except men of understanding.” (Surah 2: 7)

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[…] his purpose to become a prophet was not served the way he wanted, he wrote other version of Quran- Medina version. This version brought a lot of violence and served his purpose for need to get control over […]

The revelation of Holy Qur’an began in Makkah in 610 and was completed in Medina in 632. It was compiled as we find it today, under the guidance of third righteous Islamic Caliph Uthman in 647.

The two original written copies of Holy Qur’an can bee seen in the National Museum of Turkey and Uzbekistan.

In 2015, UK-based American writer, journalist and author, Carla Power, released her book, “If the Oceans were Ink: An unlikely friendship and a journey to the heart of the Qur’an,” which is a must read for all anti-Islam bigots. She writes for the TIME Magazine and is a former correspondent for the Newsweek. Her articles are published in several other Jewish-controlled media outlets.

[…] the Quaran — the latter part named Medina overrides the early part of their bible, the Mecca (more details). Whatever is contradictory in the Quran the Medina part overrides the Mecca part — reason? […]

[…] the Quaran — the latter part named Medina overrides the early part of their bible, the Mecca (more details). Whatever is contradictory in the Quran the Medina part overrides the Mecca part — reason? […]

Muhammad was an ambitious person. Initially he might have thought that he will be revered in Mecca once the revelation of Quran is complete. The earlier Meccan verses are a reflection of that. There was no violence there. But things didn’t go as planned. He was ousted of Mecca and forced to go to Medina. There facing danger of shortage of food, he had to raid the rich caravans of traders. In the process, he gathered more animosity from other tribes. As the problem gradually escalated, the verses were more stern towards the enemies so as to prepare the existing muslims to fight the impeding doom.

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